A family in the northern Spanish village of Azuara have lost half of their belongings after eviction agents pillaged their home by mistake.

Azuara may be a tiny village of no more than 220 inhabitants, but the fact that it has both a street and a square named Iglesia has led to an embarrassing mix-up by local bank representatives tasked with carrying out an eviction.

Eviction agents turned up at the address they assumed they'd been given and, after checking there was nobody home, they then proceeded to enter the property and begin the "clearing" process.

By Spanish law, everything inside a house which is up for eviction is understood to be abandoned, leading the agents to take all furniture and belongings they found in the property to the local dumpsite.

It wasn't until a few days later that the property owners returned to discover the degree of pillaging which had taken place in their holiday home, Spanish newspaper ABC reported on Thursday.

The couple, originally from the neighbouring city of Zaragoza, first assumed they'd been burgled to then find out from neighbours they'd been the victims of an erroneous eviction.

As if that wasn't enough, a lot of their furniture was taken by village locals who'd picked up their valuable at the village dumpster.

The case has been taken to court on several occasions ever since the eviction mix-up took place in November 2011.

Although Ibercaja (the bank the ordered the eviction) returned the keys to the property to the owner soon after the mix-up, they have still not been reimbursed for all their losses.

After a failed attempt to sue Ibercaja's President Amado Franco for forced entry and damages, the plaintiffs are now demanding €14,500 ($19,585) from the bank for the loss of their valuables and moral damages.